Each week, Education World profiles a different school principal. His or her responses offer insight into what it takes to be a principal, what a principal's day is like, and the special challenges a principal faces.

Principal Profile: All About Amos Kornfeld

Your school:
Piermont Village School, a K-8 school in Piermont, New Hampshire (80 students)

Your education experience:
I was a middle school teacher for 12 years and assistant principal for one year. I've been a principal for four years, three of them at Piermont Village School.

Do you expect to finish your working life in this career?
No, I will try other educational jobs -- perhaps in research or policy or maybe a superintendent's job.

What is your education motto?
Balance -- the basics with arts and sports, hard work with hard play.

If you have one of those days when you don't think you can face the job again, what gets you out the door and off to work the next morning?
I have a responsibility to the kids, teachers, parents, and my own career. Nothing is that serious that it won't pass.

Who or what most influenced your decision to become an educator?
I actually became an educator because I wanted to work with kids. The school piece came later. I think my father's volunteering and coaching had the biggest impact initially on my wanting to work with children. He is a stockbroker by profession.

What do you do to relieve stress?
Exercise! I run, bike, ski, skate I also play saxophone, which I just took up last summer. These things relieve stress, and they are also fun!

If you could have a different career, what would that be?
I would have liked to have been a pro athlete.

What have you been reading lately?
Black Hawk Down (Mark Bowden) and Leading Learning Communities: Standards for What Principals Should Know and Be Able To Do , which is published by NAESP (National Association of Elementary School Principals).